Husker special teams/safeties coach Bill Busch was the speaker at Friday morning’s Big Red Breakfast in Omaha.

The coach said that if this week’s practices were any indication, the Huskers were shaping up to play good football today.

“The way they prepared, the way they practice, gives you an extremely good feeling about where they are emotionally,” Busch said.

He said coaches are putting in their customary 18- to 19-hour workdays, trying to get things going in the right direction.

“In football, things are never as good as they seem and they’re never as bad as they seem,” Busch said.

Addressing padgate: You know you’re in Nebraska when it becomes headline news that the local football team is practicing in full pads.

When word came out that the Huskers were practicing in full pads this week for the first time since fall camp, it created a stir, to say the least. The popular question of the week: Why weren’t they practicing that way all along?

Busch said the recent full-pad practices are “not a big difference for us from what we’ve done. If you saw us practice (in half pads), you’d be shocked at the amount of collisions, the physicality of the game.”

Quick hits:  A fan asked Busch if he was concerned that senior cornerback Zackary Bowman, a team captain, was the only guy to give up his Blackshirt after last week’s debacle against USC.

“It’s not a concern. Zack made a personal (decision),” Busch said. “I don’t look at it as a lack of leadership from the rest of our guys.”

* Who’s redshirting this year? “Nobody’s been told that they’re redshirting right now,” Busch said.

* Of the freshmen who have impressed coaches, Busch said: “The guys that are really coming along for us now are (defensive backs) Prince Amukamara and Eric Hagg. Those guys are doing extremely, extremely well. We’re still coaching them, getting them ready to play.”

* Busch praised linebacker Lance Brandenburgh’s play against USC. He also likes the progress of backup Rickey Thenarse at the safety spot.

“He’s really built himself up to get some playing time if he keeps going the way he’s going,” he said.

* In reviewing film of the USC game, Busch talked about the second-quarter kickoff where Thenarse knocked the ball loose, only to have it bounce right to a Trojan, who picked it up and ran 50 yards.

Before that play, Busch said the goal was that “we will not come back to the huddle without the ball. … I’ve never had a play like that in my career of coaching. I’ve seen guys fall on it. Never seen a guy pick it up and run for 50.”

 * Busch praised Ball State punter Chris Miller, one of the finalists for the Ray Guy award, as “one of the best we’ve ever seen before.”

* He also credited the Ball State coaches for their quick turnaround of a program that was recently losing more often than not.

“What they’ve done from a couple of years ago is unbelievable,” Busch said. “I’ve never seen a team jump that far that fast.”

* When talking about special teams, Busch relayed a story about how before a season he’ll ask who’s interested in returning kicks.

About 25 players will express interest. As for returning punts? That seems a bit more dangerous to everyone. Usually there’s only about two or three hands that go up.

— Brian Christopherson